upend
Americanverb (used with object)
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upends,
present (3rd person singular)
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upended,
past participle, past
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upending
present participle
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to set on end, as a barrel or ship.
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to affect drastically or radically, as tastes, opinions, reputations, or systems.
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to defeat in competition, as in boxing or business.
verb (used without object)
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upends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
upended,
past participle, past
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upending
present participle
-
to become upended.
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to place the body back-end up, as a dabbling duck.
verb
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to turn or set or become turned or set on end
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(tr) to affect or upset drastically
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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upendsimple
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upendssimple
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have upendedperfect
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has upendedperfect
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am upendingprogressive
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are upendingprogressive
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is upendingprogressive
-
have been upendingperfect progressive
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has been upendingperfect progressive
Past
-
upendedsimple
-
had upendedperfect
-
was upendingprogressive
-
were upendingprogressive
-
had been upendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of upend
Explanation
When you upend something, you flip it over or tip it on one side. Tell your sister you won't play checkers with her anymore if she continues to upend the board angrily every time she loses. To move the table from one room to another, you might have to upend it so it'll fit through the door, resting it on one end. The other way to upend something is to invert it, or turn it onto the opposite side, the way you upend a bottle of root beer over a glass or upend your school bag and shake the contents onto your bed to find that lost pack of gum.
Vocabulary lists containing upend
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
You may have heard it before—when quantum computing gets here, it’s going to upend cybersecurity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Others at the town hall, however, expressed fury that the two remaining ranching families were now trying to upend the deal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Lovers and ex-guerrillas Derlis Aizama and Daniel Paredes recently laid down arms to start a family, but Colombia's incoming hard-right administration might upend their improbable attempt at civilian life.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
People retiring in reasonably good health “fail to account for how steeply healthcare expenses can climb in their late 70s and 80s. Long-term care alone can upend even a well-funded retirement plan,” Cox said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
The rest of Nichols’ weekend was a fog of anger and sadness: what right did Dr. King have to upend her career plans?
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
A terrible accident on a country-club golf course upends the life of an ambitious young player.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
"It really upends a theory that says that symbolic rule induction is not possible without linguistic capacities," says Kean.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
There are signs of China’s growing influence as the AI boom upends the status quo.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
Oil traders tend to thrive in volatility that upends markets and threatens economies overnight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
Trust him to cling to the surfboard as it upends in the froth of the latest wave.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
The celebrity gossip blogger became as famous as the stars he covered before social media upended his business model.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Aren’t we about to enter a time when questioning itself will be upended by artificial intelligence?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
But whatever price structure it chooses could be upended if and when the large language model providers change their own pricing strategies.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
AI has completely upended the software pricing model, challenging both traditional software companies and leading AI companies.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
Before he found the great pot of oatmeal in the kettle over the fire, he had turned over the table and the benches and upended the spinning wheel.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
Life has a way of upending even the best financial plans.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
The sudden breakthrough suggests that China's tech prowess is rapidly narrowing the capabilities gap, upending long-held assumptions in the West that Chinese developers trail their American peers.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
They are upending their lives and leaving behind careers for think tanks, nonprofits and street protest groups.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Forces — some visible, some harder to see — are upending literature and education itself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Or when that social worker had escorted him to his empty apartment to pack up a small bag of things, upending his life as yours had been upended, as mine had too.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
